OSU vacates 2010 season, but will it satisfy NCAA?

Ohio State University has declared that its 2010 football season - the 12 wins, one loss and the Big Ten and Sugar Bowl championships - never existed.

Ohio State University has declared that its 2010 football season - the 12 wins, one loss and the Big Ten and Sugar Bowl championships - never existed.

However, OSU officials cannot as easily erase the consequences of a season in which then-coach Jim Tressel committed major violations of NCAA regulations.

In its response to the NCAA yesterday, Ohio State and Tressel agreed that regulations were fractured when he failed to disclose that at least two of his players had sold OSU memorabilia to a tattoo-parlor owner.

Ohio State built its case for avoiding NCAA sanctions - beyond its self-imposed penalty of vacating last season and placing its football program on probation for two years - on blaming Tressel.

"The responsibility is upon Tressel. No other institutional personnel were aware" of player violations, and the former coach failed in his duty to report them, Ohio State wrote in its response to NCAA allegations. "The institution is embarrassed by the actions of Tressel."

The university acknowledged that Tressel knowingly fielded two players who would have been ineligible to compete had the coach reported that they sold OSU gear and awards.

Ohio State concedes it is a "repeat violator" of NCAA regulations, but contends that its "corrective and punitive actions are appropriate" and asks that the football program be spared additional punishment such as a loss of scholarships or a ban on postseason play.

That call will come after Aug. 12, when OSU officials are to meet with the NCAA's Infractions Committee in Indianapolis to plead their case, which includes enforcing tougher compliance standards and prohibiting athletes from buying certain apparel until their eligibility has expired.

The response to the NCAA contained few new revelations beyond Ohio State's reporting that it had identified an eighth football player who had dealings with tattoo-parlor owner Edward Rife.

The university has declared the player, who received discounted prices on tattoos, ineligible. The NCAA will have to rule on his infraction if Ohio State seeks to reinstate him, as it did with six other players associated with Rife. The unidentified seventh player has left the program.

Ohio State officials think they have built a persuasive case that the school should not face harsher penalties from the NCAA, with athletic director Gene Smith vowing yesterday to "battle" any additional sanctions.

Tressel also argues that he and Ohio State already have paid dearly for his transgressions, which the NCAA portrayed as involving dishonesty and ethical misconduct. Tressel wrote to the NCAA that his "integrity and proven history of promoting rules compliance," combined with his team's improving academic performance and other factors, should mitigate the severity of any sanctions.

"Coach Tressel has explained his thinking at the time, but offers no excuses for his faulty judgment ... (he) has paid a terrible price for his mistake, losing his job at one of the premier programs in the country," Tressel wrote in his response.

Similar to the season that never existed, Tressel's resignation was converted yesterday into a retirement in an agreement with Ohio State.

Tressel, who resigned on May 30, asked to be allowed to retire so he could be a Buckeye for life, said Rex Elliot, one of his attorneys. "It leaves no doubt about his love for Ohio State and his desire to be a Buckeye forever."

It also means that Tressel will be eligible for health-insurance coverage for himself and his family under the plan available to all state retirees.

The university had told Tressel that he was being suspended for five games and fined $250,000. Ohio State also disclosed yesterday that it planned to prohibit Tressel from off-campus recruiting for one year.

Instead, the fine was waived and the university will pay Tressel $52,250 - the salary and benefits he would have received through June 30. OSU President E. Gordon Gee had said last month that Tressel would not escape paying the fine.

Asked why it is being waived, Smith said yesterday, "We just wanted to move forward. We wanted to get to the point where both parties could move forward." Tressel also argued that he had paid enough. "Stepping down after 10 years as the Buckeyes' head coach will cost him far more than $250,000," Elliot said.

Ohio State told the NCAA that it is imposing new restrictions on how and when players receive awards, in an attempt to curb any abuse. Players must prove they still have their championship rings and watches and will not receive other items, such as gold-pants charms for Michigan wins and game-worn helmets, until they leave the program.

The university also said that a compliance officer will travel with the football and basketball teams to road games to monitor players. And Ohio State plans to tell campus-area businesses and other restaurants and bars frequented by players that student-athletes are not allowed to receive free or discounted items.

The university did not immediately release a transcript of a Feb. 18 interview with Tressel over his failure to report the violations by his players. In its response, Ohio State reported that Tressel said he understood that, by allowing ineligible players to compete, Ohio State was "going to get as our works deserve" and that "we were going to pay the fiddler."

The fallout from the scandal has included the partial-season suspension of six players and quarterback Terrelle Pryor's decision to skip his senior season in favor of turning pro.

Ohio State reported to the NCAA that it is continuing to investigate other allegations of player misconduct that have swirled around the football program and will self-report any newly discovered violations. Pryor, who has denied wrongdoing, was being investigated by the NCAA for his use of several cars during his three years on campus.

The university is considered a repeat offender because it was still on probation from a 2006 case involving violations by then-basketball coach Jim O'Brien.

The downfall of Tressel and Ohio State began on April 2, 2010, when former OSU walk-on linebacker Christopher Cicero, who is now a Columbus lawyer, sent the coach an email informing him that at least two players had sold OSU memorabilia to Rife.

Rife had considered hiring Cicero as his lawyer, but ultimately did not retain him. Cicero now faces professional punishment because he has been accused of violating attorney-client privilege by revealing Rife's confidences to Tressel.

"Tressel reported that when he read information in the email about drug trafficking, homicide and possession of criminal tools, he said 'it was a bad situation that scared him,'" the university response to the NCAA allegations says.

Rife, who has pleaded guilty to federal charges of marijuana trafficking, paid the players a total of $9,480 in cash and $555 in free and discounted tattoos for items that included gold-pants charms for Michigan wins and game-worn gear.

All but one of the first six implicated players have been suspended for five games this coming season, and they are paying the university the money they received from the memorabilia sales, in monthly installments through November.

The report states that players began associating with Rife and his Fine Line Ink tattoo parlor after a "chance meeting" between him and a couple of players at a Columbus-area nightclub in early 2008. The first memorabilia dealings with Rife occurred in 2009, but Ohio State should not vacate wins from that season because no one, including Tressel, was aware of those transactions, the university says.

The section of Ohio State's response detailing player accounts of their dealings with Rife was heavily redacted by the university. Most players said they sold the items because of personal and family financial hardships.

Tressel never directly confronted the players about selling memorabilia to Rife, but "told them to make proper choices and be careful with whom they associate," according to the response.

The former coach said he considered potential criminal activity and avoiding interference with an active federal investigation a higher priority than disclosing the violations. Ohio State stressed that Tressel's failure to act was rooted in "indecisiveness ... as opposed to blatant disregard of NCAA legislation."

The Dispatch revealed previously that, although he did not notify OSU officials of player misconduct, he shared the information Cicero provided with Jeannette, Pa., businessman Ted Sarniak, a mentor to Pryor. Ohio State's response to the NCAA concerning contact with Sarniak is heavily redacted and sheds no light on what Tressel and Sarniak discussed.

OSU officials learned of the violations in December when federal officials told them that investigators had found player memorabilia when they searched Rife's home during a drug investigation. Federal officials have said there is no evidence OSU players were involved in drug transactions.